Update

11:47 p.m. SUNDAY, SEPT. 21: The suspect in the shooting of a shopkeeper during an attempted robbery Sunday evening is described as a Latino man, about 5 feet, 7 inches tall. He was armed with a pistol as he fled the Gotta Habit smoke shop in the San Marcos Center retail strip center on the Texas State University’s northern edge, officials said.

The victim, 25-year-old Patrick William Reilly, was working the counter at the Gotta Habit smoke shop shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday when the man entered the store brandishing a handgun. Reilly confronted the assailant and was shot in the chest, said Trey Hatt, the city’s spokesperson.

Reilly was taken by ambulance to University Medical Center Brackenridge in Austin where he was in critical condition, Hatt said.

Wearing a short-sleeved green hoodie and blue jeans, the assailant fled the store headed in the direction of the Treehouse Apartments, Hatt said. San Marcos and Texas State University police used canines to search the area but could not find him.

Son Nguyen, a construction worker on a job site at a nearby hookah lounge, told the University Star that he pursued the suspect after hearing a loud boom. He gave up the chase at the edge of the parking lot because he feared for his life.

Earlier

10:24 p.m. SUNDAY, SEPT. 21: San Marcos police are looking for a man who shot a North Campus area shopkeeper in the chest this evening during an attempted robbery, city spokesperson Trey Hatt told the San Marcos Mercury.

The man was shot at about 6:20 p.m. Sunday at the Gotta Habit tobacco and head shop, 700 N. LBJ Drive across Sessom Drive from Texas State University. The victim was taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge but Hatt said he did not immediately know his condition.

San Marcos police did not immediately return phone calls late this evening about the shooting. Hatt said more information is forthcoming through his office.